Atik Air

Downloads

Atik Air is a free piece of software you can run on a Raspberry Pi 3 that allows you to use your Atik Camera over your network. This means any Atik Camera can now be used over wifi, or via an Ethernet connection to your router.

This is a great way to solve problems with too-short USB leads and unreliable hubs, giving you the freedom to have your imaging computer much further away from your equipment. You don’t even have to stick with the same imaging computer, as you can now connect to the camera using any computer available on your network.

It’s also one small step on the campaign to minimise cable clutter, tidying up your equipment and minimising trip hazards in the dark. It helps alleviate weight and drag on your telescope as you can use a much shorter, lighter USB cable into the Pi, which in turn can help improve your guiding.

The best part is that it works in exactly the same way as if you were using a USB connection. You can continue to use your preferred imaging software to its full functionality, so whether you image in Artemis Capture or any third-party software, you don’t have to change what you do, or how you do it.

What do you need?

Atik Air is completely free from us and compatible with all our current cameras including the Infinity, the only exceptions are our USB 1 cameras and the EFW1. You’ll need to get yourself a few bits and pieces listed below that are widely available, but aren’t neccessarily available from Atik dealers.

Free Atik Air download as included in our core software installer

Atik Air Image

Raspberry Pi 3 and power supply

Micro SD card (min. 2GB)

SD card writer

Ethernet cable

A case for your Raspberry Pi 3 (recommended)

Please Note: Atik Air is NOT compatible with USB 1 cameras or the EFW1

The Raspberry Pi 3 has four USB connections available so not only can you image wirelessly, you can also connect your Atik guide camera and control your Atik filter wheel. This also opens up the possibility of third-party development of external hardware integration – we already thinks there’s an opportunity there to set up a virtual COM port, so if you already know your way around a Pi, or just fancy learning, we’d love to hear about any tinkering or ideas you have over on our forum.

Setting up Atik Air

We’ve made Atik Air easy to setup and use so you can be up and running over wifi in just a few simple steps. We’ve also put together an Advanced Setup Guide for those of you who already have a Raspberry Pi you’d like to install Atik Air on. The instructions for both the Simple and Advanced Setup are included in the Atik Air Guide, which is available to download on the right and is included in our core software installer, or you can follow our Simple Setup video and transcript.